Early Byzantine Terracotta Pilgrim's Token (3.62g, 20mm) 6th-7th centuries AD.
Obv: The Virgin seated facing on throne surmounted by a cross on each side, nimbate, holding infant Christ on lap; uncertain inscription around
Rev: Blank convex surface

Eulogies in Terracotta
The first Christian pilgrimages should be dated to the 3rd century, and the full development of the pilgrimage movement occurred in the 4th and 5th centuries. Numerous testimonies of pilgrimages to holy places have been found from that time:
- Jerusalem, the most important center and place associated with the life and activity of Jesus Christ.
- Sergiopolis in Syria associated with the cult of the relics of St. Sergius,
- Seleukeia in Isauria, a commemorative sanctuary built over the cave where St. Thecla lived, known from the sessions of the Council of Chalcedon
- the sanctuary of St. Euphemia,
- the sanctuary of St. Menas in Abu Mina, or the pilgrimage center of St. Demetrius in Thessaloniki. Pilgrimage centers also develop around places where saints lived, even if their mortal remains were moved to another place.

Devotional items, eulogia, eulogiae or benedictiones (i.e. blessings), i.e. items materially connected with the loca sancta: special containers and packages for water, oil, earth, dust and stones taken by pilgrims from these places to their homelands, where they were surrounded, like relics, with great veneration and were attributed with magical properties. Their decoration, apart from beautifying and reminding us of the place, the purpose of the pilgrimage, seemed to have a deeper meaning than the decoration of other devotional items, deliberately omitted here, such as medallions, encolpiums, fibulae, rings and bracelets, i.e. pious jewellery, and at the same time magical amulets, offered, probably also in a large selection, in the same holy places visited by pilgrims in large numbers. Material eulogies were strengthened with holy power ("δύναμις") through contact with holy relics or substances. Their decoration, apart from beautification and reminder of the place, the purpose of the pilgrimage, had - as it seems - a deeper meaning. Other devotional items, such as medallions, encolpiums, fibulae, rings and bracelets, i.e. pious jewellery, and at the same time magical amulets, were probably also offered in a large selection, in the same holy places visited by crowds of pilgrims. The blessed energy contained in the earth, water or oil from holy places made the images protective talismans providing their owners with help in misfortune and grace for a successful life both in the private sphere, accompanying them everywhere until the grave (as evidenced by the finds of Palestinian ampoules in Egyptian necropolises), and in the life of local communities (as indicated by the votive offerings from these eulogies deposited in church treasuries). The decoration of eulogies, apart from embellishing and reminding us of the place and purpose of the pilgrimage, probably had a deeper meaning than the decoration of other devotional items, such as medallions, encolpiums, fibulae, rings and bracelets, i.e. pious jewellery and at the same time magical amulets, offered, probably also in a large selection, in the same holy places visited by pilgrims. A review of this type of devotional items - eulogies - should begin with the best known and most reliably dated group of round (diameter from 4.5 to 7.5 cm), flattened metal ampoules (made of an alloy of tin and lead), with a narrow spout and small ears. The core of this group consists of ampoules from the cathedral treasury in Monza, published already in the 18th century, and less well-preserved ampoules, discovered at the beginning of the present century in the crypt of San Colombano in Bobbio. These were joined by single pieces or pairs of ampoules found in Egyptian graves or of unknown provenance, kept in museums in London, Washington, Detroit, Berlin, Bonn and Stuttgart. In total, today we know of over 40 ampoules. Better or worse preserved, they usually bear an inscription clearly indicating their place of origin - Palestine - and function: containers for holy oil: "the blessing of the Lord from holy places" or "oil of the tree of life from holy places". By the power of the blessed energy contained in dust, water or oil from holy places, these images became a protective talisman providing their owner with help in misfortune and grace for a successful life both in the private sphere, accompanying him everywhere to the grave (as evidenced by the finds of Palestinian ampoules in Egyptian necropolises), and in the life of local communities (as evidenced by the votive offerings from these eulogies deposited in church treasuries). In the life of Simeon the Younger (d. 592) we find emphatic confirmation of this interpretation. Simeon, from the height of his column on Mount Mirabilis near Antioch, addressed a certain presbyter, the father of three sons: "Take this blessing - the eulogy made of my dust and go, and as soon as you look at our image, it is as if you saw us ourselves." When later, after returning from a pilgrimage, one of the presbyter's sons fell ill and demanded that his father take him to Mount Mirabilis so that Simeon could heal him. Thanks to the eulogy, the son saw the saint and called out to his father: "rise, light incense and pray, because the servant of God, St. Simeon, is here". If such was the power, as was believed, of the images of holy ascetics, then even more effective must have been - in the opinion of the pilgrims of that time - the protective power against evil and the causative power for grace and prosperity drawn from the images from the holy places of Christ's earthly sojourn, especially from the place of His death and resurrection in Jerusalem.